The Pragmatic Maxim
Subtitle: Essays on Peirce and Pragmatism
By: By Christopher Hookway.
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Oxford, England
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 245
ISBN-13: 9780199588381; 9780191745089; 9780191642876
Copyright date: 2012
Description: Christopher Hookway presents a series of essays on the philosophy of Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1913), the 'founder of pragmatism' and one of the most important and original American philosophers. Peirce made significant contributions to the development of formal logic and to the study of the normative standards we should follow in carrying out inquiries and enhancing our knowledge in science and mathematics. In The Pragmatic Maxim, Hookway explores Peirce's writings on truth, science, and the nature of meaning, which have become steadily more influential over recent decades. He demonstrates how Peirce's ideas can contribute to and inform philosophical understanding in debates that continue today. The first seven chapters explore the framework of Peirce's thought, especially his fallibilism and his rejection of scepticism, and his contributions to the pragmatist understanding of truth and reality. Like Frege and Husserl, among others, Peirce rejected psychologism and used phenomenological foundations to defend the system of categories. The final three chapters are concerned with 'the pragmatic maxim', a rule for clarifying the contents of concepts and ideas. Hookway explores the different strategies Peirce employed to demonstrate the correctness of the maxim, and thus of pragmatism. As well as studying and evaluating Peirce's views, The Pragmatic Maxim discusses the relations between the views of Peirce and other pragmatist philosophers such as William James, C. I. Lewis, and Richard Rorty.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index (p. [235]-241).
Table of contents: title: ""Cover""; ""Contents""; ""Texts and Abbreviations""; ""Introduction: The Pragmatist Maxim, the Method of Science, and Representation""; ""1. Peirce and Scepticism""; ""2. Fallibilism and the Aim of Inquiry""; ""3. Truth, Reality, and Convergence""; ""4. Interrogatives and Uncontrollable Abductions""; ""5. Normative Logic and Psychology: Peirceâ€?s Rejection of Psychologism""; ""6. â€?The Form of a Relationâ€?: Peirce and Mathematical Structuralism""; ""7. â€?A Sort of Composite Photographâ€?: Pragmatism, Ideas, and Schematism""; ""8. Pragmatism and the Given: C.I. Lewis, Quine, and Peirce"" ""9. The Principle of Pragmatism: Peirceâ€?s Formulations and Examples""""10. Logical Principles and Philosophical Attitudes: Peirceâ€?s Response to Jamesâ€?s Pragmatism""; ""11. How Peirce Argued for his Pragmatist Maxim""; ""Bibliography""; ""Index""; ""A""; ""B""; ""C""; ""D""; ""E""; ""F""; ""G""; ""H""; ""I""; ""J""; ""K""; ""L""; ""M""; ""N""; ""O""; ""P""; ""Q""; ""R""; ""S""; ""T""; ""V""; ""W""